Avengers: Infinity War (Dir. Anthony and Joe Russo, 2h29m)
It would been easy, a decade ago, to
laugh at the concept of an intertwined, shared cinematic universe, where dozens
of mid-ranking superheroes intermingle, go on adventures and team up against
greater evils when one cannot do the job alone. Just look at the characters,
some sneered, from the reasonably marketable billionaire playboy philanthropist
who happens to build himself a suit to go on adventures, and the duo of
assassins with storied histories, to the laughable-a stars-and-striped clad throwback
created in the middle of WWII, his patriotism seemingly hopelessly out of place in the dying days
of the Bush regieme, not to mention a Norse God. Not to mention the plots,
culled from up to seven decades of comics that struggled for relevance against
the slicker universe of the ever-culturally relevant X Men, the villains, the
very idea of having to watch six or seven movies to understand who everyone
was.
And yet, to quote Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury…there was an idea. To bring together a group of remarkable characters, see if they could become something more. They started with the would be leader, a redemption for an actor with as many demons as the character he played, then added a monster in a man, on his second go round. A sequel to Iron Man, and whilst the film ran rocky, the ending showed hope, the idea thrown into the ring. The Avengers. A god, his brother, their squabble and power struggle thrown onto our world, before the sextet was completed by the first of all.
And then came the seemingly impossible, with four years good favour; 6 films in, they finally did it. The culmination, in that effortless sweeping shot around our heroes, in a battered Manhattan street, seems meagre now, especially with the cast of a good two dozen in Infinity War, but it’s the ultimate payoff, the bedrock and foundations in place to build upwards, as the franchise has done. Whilst not every film has been a great leap forward, it’s a step, and as the series grew in power, in magnitude, with new additions that seem to join the family with ease, they even began to take risks that would have been unthinkable at the start, the final two pieces before Thanos upsets the entire jigsaw a surprising change in tone for the uneven Thor franchise, and an unapologetic, proudly Afrocentric masterpiece that not only tears up the old rulebook of superhero films, but that of blockbusters in general.
Yet, at the centre of it all, pulling all the strings, is Josh Brolin’s Thanos, and all roads, inevitably, lead to him and Infinity War. And really, this is his film, as the film casts him in both bathetic and villainous light, as his quest for the Infinity Stones lead him to an inevitable conflict with the Avengers, scattered as they are. Thanos is the glue that holds this film together; without him, and his threatened hemimation of the universe’s populace, this film would be bloated. This in part is due to Brolin’s quality as an actor; Thanos not only believes he’s right, in his attempts to bring the universe into balance, albeit in a horrifically extreme way, he knows he’s right.
This frighteningly pragmatic streak underpins the character, playing characters against each other to get exactly what he wants, with just the right amount of pressure, only to take it anyway-unsurprisingly, this film’s bodycount quickly spirals into the dozens, and it’s oddly refreshing to see the film dispense with characters that a less confident franchise may have balked at. Yet there is also a remarkably human aspect to Thanos. In a twisted way, he’s remarkably likable, deliberately so, and, much like the previous Avengers films, Thanos is as much a comic foil as a villainous one, only adding to the character’s truly frightening nature.
Around him, of course, are the Avengers, and here, it’s undeniable that the film dispenses with much of the background that a less confident film would; characters simply appear, paths cross, characters and entire groups are reunited-in all, there is a remarkably light yet deft touch to the rudder of this film-at points it’s content to ping a group of characters off each other, to see teamups fans may have been waiting years if not decades to finally see them on screen together, only to divide them back up again to throw them off in other directions-the fact that all of these characters are balanced enough to give some of them quiet character moments among the carnage of Thanos’s arrival, whilst keeping the entire narrative moving fluidly towards that final confrontation, is a testament to how well these characters have been developed.
Moreover, there are some deeply satisfying endings to some characters arcs, and in particular to Thor’s, as the fallout from Thor Ragnarok continues. If Thanos drives the story forward, then Thor undeniably, is the immovable object pushing back against his unstoppable force, as his quest to reforge his hammer takes him on an unexpected trajectory with a surprising group of travelling companions. This is not to say that other Marvel favourites do not get the same treatment, but Thor is undeniably the centre of the movie, bringing along more than a touch of the humour that ran through Ragnarok.
Everything feels bigger in this film, grander, from the worlds this series visits, to the stakes, to the action scenes; what once may have been a finale now serves for opening act, and Thanos is undeniably the greatest villain of the MCU so far, a philosopher warrior that leaves carnage in his wake, even if he bears some of the damage himself. There is a kinetic effortless, a flow that runs through some of these fight scenes that the MCU has never quite found before, characters playing off each other with aplomb, the verbal sparring just as tight as the physical. Every character feels like a part of something more, and every death, every stone lost to the Mad Titan has a weight that is felt keenly, only adding to this film’s headlong rush to the seemingly inevitable finale.
Thus, Infinity War rightly feels like an ending, (or at least the first part of one) of one part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the beginning of another chapter. Ten years of these films have undeniably changed the feel, and indeed the very nature of franchise film making, and Infinity War feels like a culmination of everything that has gone before it, a meeting of characters that some fans have waited decades for; if the first Avengers film proved that it could be done, that this franchise had legs, that people wanted to see these characters interact, both against a foe, and as people, then Infinity War refines that format to an artform.
In the best possible way, it’s fanservice, a thank you to a decade of fans that got this franchise off the ground, that proved that this series could be more than just an idea. It is the jewel in the Marvel crown. Or fist, if you will. You don’t need me to tell you to go and see it. You probably already have. Fun isn’t…usually something I consider when I write these reviews. I try to be critical. I try to poke holes. I try to not get swept up in the story.
But this? This does put a smile on my face. And I can’t wait for more.
Rating: Must See.
And yet, to quote Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury…there was an idea. To bring together a group of remarkable characters, see if they could become something more. They started with the would be leader, a redemption for an actor with as many demons as the character he played, then added a monster in a man, on his second go round. A sequel to Iron Man, and whilst the film ran rocky, the ending showed hope, the idea thrown into the ring. The Avengers. A god, his brother, their squabble and power struggle thrown onto our world, before the sextet was completed by the first of all.
And then came the seemingly impossible, with four years good favour; 6 films in, they finally did it. The culmination, in that effortless sweeping shot around our heroes, in a battered Manhattan street, seems meagre now, especially with the cast of a good two dozen in Infinity War, but it’s the ultimate payoff, the bedrock and foundations in place to build upwards, as the franchise has done. Whilst not every film has been a great leap forward, it’s a step, and as the series grew in power, in magnitude, with new additions that seem to join the family with ease, they even began to take risks that would have been unthinkable at the start, the final two pieces before Thanos upsets the entire jigsaw a surprising change in tone for the uneven Thor franchise, and an unapologetic, proudly Afrocentric masterpiece that not only tears up the old rulebook of superhero films, but that of blockbusters in general.
Yet, at the centre of it all, pulling all the strings, is Josh Brolin’s Thanos, and all roads, inevitably, lead to him and Infinity War. And really, this is his film, as the film casts him in both bathetic and villainous light, as his quest for the Infinity Stones lead him to an inevitable conflict with the Avengers, scattered as they are. Thanos is the glue that holds this film together; without him, and his threatened hemimation of the universe’s populace, this film would be bloated. This in part is due to Brolin’s quality as an actor; Thanos not only believes he’s right, in his attempts to bring the universe into balance, albeit in a horrifically extreme way, he knows he’s right.
This frighteningly pragmatic streak underpins the character, playing characters against each other to get exactly what he wants, with just the right amount of pressure, only to take it anyway-unsurprisingly, this film’s bodycount quickly spirals into the dozens, and it’s oddly refreshing to see the film dispense with characters that a less confident franchise may have balked at. Yet there is also a remarkably human aspect to Thanos. In a twisted way, he’s remarkably likable, deliberately so, and, much like the previous Avengers films, Thanos is as much a comic foil as a villainous one, only adding to the character’s truly frightening nature.
Around him, of course, are the Avengers, and here, it’s undeniable that the film dispenses with much of the background that a less confident film would; characters simply appear, paths cross, characters and entire groups are reunited-in all, there is a remarkably light yet deft touch to the rudder of this film-at points it’s content to ping a group of characters off each other, to see teamups fans may have been waiting years if not decades to finally see them on screen together, only to divide them back up again to throw them off in other directions-the fact that all of these characters are balanced enough to give some of them quiet character moments among the carnage of Thanos’s arrival, whilst keeping the entire narrative moving fluidly towards that final confrontation, is a testament to how well these characters have been developed.
Moreover, there are some deeply satisfying endings to some characters arcs, and in particular to Thor’s, as the fallout from Thor Ragnarok continues. If Thanos drives the story forward, then Thor undeniably, is the immovable object pushing back against his unstoppable force, as his quest to reforge his hammer takes him on an unexpected trajectory with a surprising group of travelling companions. This is not to say that other Marvel favourites do not get the same treatment, but Thor is undeniably the centre of the movie, bringing along more than a touch of the humour that ran through Ragnarok.
Everything feels bigger in this film, grander, from the worlds this series visits, to the stakes, to the action scenes; what once may have been a finale now serves for opening act, and Thanos is undeniably the greatest villain of the MCU so far, a philosopher warrior that leaves carnage in his wake, even if he bears some of the damage himself. There is a kinetic effortless, a flow that runs through some of these fight scenes that the MCU has never quite found before, characters playing off each other with aplomb, the verbal sparring just as tight as the physical. Every character feels like a part of something more, and every death, every stone lost to the Mad Titan has a weight that is felt keenly, only adding to this film’s headlong rush to the seemingly inevitable finale.
Thus, Infinity War rightly feels like an ending, (or at least the first part of one) of one part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the beginning of another chapter. Ten years of these films have undeniably changed the feel, and indeed the very nature of franchise film making, and Infinity War feels like a culmination of everything that has gone before it, a meeting of characters that some fans have waited decades for; if the first Avengers film proved that it could be done, that this franchise had legs, that people wanted to see these characters interact, both against a foe, and as people, then Infinity War refines that format to an artform.
In the best possible way, it’s fanservice, a thank you to a decade of fans that got this franchise off the ground, that proved that this series could be more than just an idea. It is the jewel in the Marvel crown. Or fist, if you will. You don’t need me to tell you to go and see it. You probably already have. Fun isn’t…usually something I consider when I write these reviews. I try to be critical. I try to poke holes. I try to not get swept up in the story.
But this? This does put a smile on my face. And I can’t wait for more.
Rating: Must See.
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